A naval officer frankly discloses just how badly American defense has suffered through inadequate building program.

by Lieut. John Edwin Hogg, U.S.N.R.

(Note: The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and should not be construed as reflecting the official views or opinions of the Navy Department.)

AS THESE lines are written the American navy is in the worst condition of decrepitude and impotence that has ever marked its history.

Pacifist domination and sheer neglect has left us with a navy so skeletonized and anaemic as to threaten our national security. Among some none-too-friendly neighbor nations armed to the teeth and in a world seething with social, political, and economic unrest, we find ourselves with a run-down battle fleet that is only 65 per cent of the estimated strength necessary for national defense. Moreover, this precariously weakened “first line of national defense” is only 85 per cent manned!

THIS CHANDELIER OF BULLETS was made at the Ford Willow Run testing field where Liberator bombers, manufactured at the rate of one an hour, try out their .50-cal. machine guns. The giant magnet retrieves the spent bullets from the backstop so that they can be melted down for salvage.

This looks like it’s ripped straight from a Bond movie. Well, either that or GI Joe. I love the inflatable camouflage rocks.

Rubber Fortresses for A-Bomb Defense

Here’s how the Air Force’s new air-building can hide the radar sentries guarding America against attack.

By Frank Tinsley

CAN we avert an atomic Pearl Harbor? Yes, we canâ€”with rubber bubbles!

For a string of giant rubber bubbles, housing radar sentries, hidden in the icy peaks of America’s northernmost mountains, could be our first line of defense against any A-bomb attack. The secret of these amazing rubber fortresses is the new Radome, a revolutionary shelter of rubber and glass textile, developed by the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory Inc. for the Air Force research center at Red Bank, N. J.

TEST NEW PARACHUTE FOR THE DOGS OF WAR
Foreseeing that troops may be dropped with parachutes from speeding planes, in future wars, Soviet experimenters are trying out a similar means of landing the dogs used in army service. A recent invention is a cylindrical coop for the dog, provided with a parachute that opens automatically when it is tossed from a plane. The shell of the coop, locked closed during the descent, springs open of its own accord when the device strikes the ground. The photographs reproduced here show the device in action during recent successful tests by Soviet aviators.

WILL death-dealing automatons, sooner or later, imperil the lives of everyone? Long-secret war weapons, now brought into the open, raise the startling question. They see through clouds and the darkness of night, when human eyes are blind. Faster than a man can think, their mechanical brains perform intricate calculations and aim guns against swiftly moving targets. They blast objectives with a ton or more of high explosives from more than 150 miles away.

Amazing new discoveries bring improvement to nature’s masterpiece, enabling the busy little insect to do a better job for war.

By ALFRED H. SINKS

Photographs by WILLIAM MORRIS and ROBERT F SMITH

THE tiny honeybeeâ€”far more important to both war industry and our food supply than most people realizeâ€”is getting a lot of attention nowadays. Though nature has produced few animals as remarkable as these industrious little insects, entomologists and geneticists have found the means to improve on its handiwork. They are actually producing bees that work harder and so produce more honeyâ€”bees that are more industrious and energetic, healthier, and better able to protect their bee cities against natural enemies. Truly amazing are some of the results of this partnership of science and nature, and its future achievements may be greater still.

Sliding over the snow on skis, a platoon of soldiers was towed by a tank in recent winter maneuvers of the Russian army. With their rifles slung on straps over their shoulders, the infantrymen grasped ropes trailing from the rear of the tank, as shown in the photograph. The maneuver is expected to speed up troop movements.

Amazing secret battles of spies and cipher experts, involving the use of codes and cryptograms on which hung the lives of millions of men in the trenches, played a vital part in determining the course of the World War. Kept secret for years in confidential archives, some of the startling exploits of American cryptographers are brought to light here.

“The enemy has our secret code!”

The dread tidings were whispered through the corridors of Washington; War Department, State Department, even the White House. They brought a cold chill of fear. Could it be that at the climax of the greatest fighting effort in our history, the Germans were reading our leaders’ most confidential messages, knew their inmost thoughts and plans? We must stop that, at once.

ELECTRIC MACHINE GUN IS SILENT
Electricity replaces gunpowder in a silent, smokeless, machine gun recently perfected for defense against hostile aircraft. Without betraying its location, this weapon is declared capable of firing 150 bullets or high-explosive shells a minute. Projectiles are hurled from its muzzle by a series of electromagnets spaced along the barrel, which start the missile moving and successively raise its velocity as they become energized.

Tomorrow’s generals may be able to tune in on the battlefield courtesy of television, relayed to headquarters by battle-going TV Seeing Eyes.

By Colonel Robert Hertzberg
Signal Corps, USAR

THIS is no fantastic rambling of science-fiction!

If there is another war, it will provide definite opportunities for the use of modern television miracles.

TV set owners now enjoy better views of athletic contests than do most people right on the scene. Powerful telephoto lenses reach across playing fields and give spectacular close-ups of a runner dashing for the goal line or of a fielder snatching a high fly. Wide-angle lenses broaden the view and produce panoramic effects of great sweep.